Wheeler
Lipes dies at age 84April 19,2005Charlie HallCourtesy of the Sun Journal

New Bern, North Carolina, resident Wheeler
Lipes, who performed an extraordinary life-saving operation aboard a submarine
in World War II, lost his own battle with cancer Sunday night.

Lipes, 84, performed an emergency appendectomy
on sailor Darrel Dean Rector aboard the USS Seadragon 120 feet under the
Pacific Ocean near Indochina in 1942. It was a historic and controversial
surgery in that Lipes was not a doctor, but a pharmacist's mate.

He was finally honored by the Navy in February
in ceremonies at Camp Lejeune with the Navy Commendation Medal.

Lipes, who lived off Madame Moore's Lane with
his wife, Audrey, said at the time he was gratified to finally receive
recognition for the surgery, which was later the subject of a Pulitzer
Prize-winning story, along with numerous book and magazine articles. It
was also the subject of a Navy film, and the surgery was depicted in several
Hollywood films.

One of his final wishes - to be buried in Arlington
National Cemetery - was granted, according to Barry Miller, a family friend
and fellow member at Doric Masonic Lodge. Lipes was honored last year as
a rare 60-year-member of that lodge. He was also recently registered in
the World War II Memorial.

"What a fascinating life he had," said Miller.
"He was a fascinating gentleman. I could listen to him talk for hours."

Miller said telephone calls wishing Lipes well
had come in from all over the country in recent days.

Jan Herman, historian of the Navy Medical Department,
was instrumental in seeing that Lipes was finally recognized.

"I found that he had never gotten any kind
of recognition from the Navy," Herman said in February. He had interviewed
and videotaped Lipes several times for the Navy. "He had been in the newspapers
and when the war wasn't going very well for us in the Pacific - here was
this 23-year-old kid who did this great thing - saved a guy's life under
these very harrowing circumstances."

Herman went to his boss - former Surgeon General
of the Navy, Vice Admiral Michael Cowan - and they went through the various
channels to finally get recognition for Lipes.

Performing the operation in adverse conditions
- on a dining table - was remarkable. The patient was longer than the table,
so a nearby cabinet drawer was opened and Lipes put the patient's feet
in the drawer. Also, the table was bolted to the floor, so Lipes had to
stand with knees bent during the two-hour operation.

He used makeshift instruments - bent spoons
for retractors, alcohol from torpedoes for sterilization and hemostats
for knife handles to hold the operation blades. He and the assisting sailor
wore sterilized pajamas for operating room gowns.

After nearly two hours, the appendix was not
in the accustomed place. But, Lipes felt around and discovered the poisoned
appendix behind the caecum.

Lipes removed a massive, five-inch appendix,
which had several inches of blackened tissue.

"I always thought he was the guy who had the
courage," Lipes said of the young sailor in a February interview with the
Sun Journal. "I've asked myself would I have gotten up on that table and
let someone do the same thing to me. He was one of the most courageous
people I've ever met."

Visitation will be 7 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at
Pollock-Best Funerals and Cremations, followed by an 8:30 p.m. Masonic
service.

The funeral will be at 2:30 p.m. at St. Andrews
Lutheran Church, 1605 Neuse Blvd.
NEW BERN, North Carolina, April 19, 2005 — Wheeler Lipes,
a World War II pharmacist's mate who performed an emergency appendectomy
aboard a submarine with makeshift instruments such as bent spoons, has
died at 84, two months after receiving belated honors for his feat.

Lipes died Sunday after a battle with pancreatic
cancer, said his brother-in-law, Chris Doney.

Lipes used bent spoons for retractors and alcohol
from torpedoes for sterilization in 1942 when he removed the appendix of
sailor Darrel Dean Rector aboard the USS Seadragon, 120 feet below the
surface of the South China Sea.

Lipes, then 22, and an assistant wore sterilized
pajamas in place of operating room gowns. Rector was too tall for the makeshift
operating table, so Lipes put the patient's feet in the drawer of a cabinet.
Lipes stood with his knees bent throughout the two-hour operation because
the table was bolted to the floor.

Lipes had witnessed several appendectomies
before deciding Rector needed surgery.

"I always thought he was the guy who had the
courage," Lipes said. "I've asked myself, `Would I have gotten up on that
table and let someone do the same thing to me?' He was one of the most
courageous people I've ever met."

Rector, whose swollen appendix had several
inches of blackened tissue, was back on duty in 13 days.

The emergency procedure was recounted in reporter
George Weller's Pulitzer Prize-winning article in the now-defunct Chicago
Daily News, and inspired a movie starring Cary Grant and a Navy-produced
film titled "The Pharmacist's Mate."

But there was also anger over Lipes' actions
among physicians from the Navy Medical Corps and talk of a court-martial
by the U.S. surgeon general, who was forced to set protocols for appendectomies
on submarines.

Lipes went without honors until Jan Herman,
historian of the Navy Medical Department, began looking into his case.
He received the Navy Commendation Medal in February.

Lipes retired to North Carolina in 2002 after
a long career as a hospital administrator. He will be buried at Arlington
National Cemetery.

Wheeler
Lipes, shown in this December 2002 photo in New Bern, North Carolina, talks
about performing surgery on a submarine during World War II. The
veteran who performed life-saving procedure has died of cancer, two months
after he won belated honors from the Navy for the feat. He died Sunday
night, April 17, 2005. and is to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery in
Virginia, a funeral home said Tuesday, April 19, 2005